Company Offers Plasma Defense

Last week, I wrote about fears of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons and the almost-as-scary prospect of plasma weapons. But isn't missile defense supposed to help intercept an EMP attack? True, but what happens if your missile defense system is vulnerable to EMP attack? Well, then you gotta protect it.

That's the idea behind this small business innovative research contract that Noah dug up last week for Plasma Science Corp.'s "Plasma Limiter" designed to protect ballistic missile defense radars from EMP:

The enabling solid state semiconductor technology in radar systems supporting the U. S. Army's ballistic missile defense program increases its vulnerability to the effects of high power, fast rise-time EMP, HPM, and UWB pulses. In recent years, significant advances in the technology used to produce these pulses have been made in the United States and abroad, increasing the need for effective protection against these threats. Plasma Sciences Corporation (PSC) has extensive experience in the development of plasma limiters to protect sensitive electronic equipment from high power, fast rise-time pulses. Existing plasma limiter technology utilizes a metallic point-plane electrode configuration. While this configuration has been reasonably effective, the advent of aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays presents an opportunity to greatly improve plasma limiter performance. Using a CNT array as a field enhancing electrode in a plasma limiter promises to offer faster reaction time, higher power handling capability, and greater reliability than existing systems, providing effective protection for BMDS radars against high power, fast rise-time pulses.

Truth be told, so-called "EMP hardening" have slipped since the end of the Cold War, which has fueled concern among some experts. It's also great fodder for Hollywood Doomsday scenarios.